Analysis of company development factors in manufacturing and service company: A strategic approach

Abstract

Continuing company development requires the development of all segments (processes): technology development, organizational structure development, human resources development, investment development, etc. These factors cannot be analyzed irrespective of the external environment. The aim of the presented study was to give contribution to the efforts that are being made to analyze the differences between manufacturing and service companies regarding the selected development factors. The original contributions of this paper are the analysis of correlations between the elements of a company development and some factors that give us information about the development of the external environment. In a research process modified SPACE analysis for defining strategic posture of the company was used. Basic SPACE analysis (Strategic Position and Action Evaluation - Rowe et al. 1994) is used for analyzing the competitive posture of the company. It consists from four basic dimensions for analyzing external and internal environment: environment stability, industry strength, financial and competitive strength of the company. Modified SPACE analysis is hierarchically structured and it consists of: great number of factors and/or indicators (in order to use analysis in both manufacturing and service companies) assessed through Likert scales in a significance and value domain; assessment of synergy effects of factors and a selection of critical ones; simulation of possible future strategic posture, together with the modification of the values of selected critical factors that could have an impact on the future development of the company. © 2011 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved.